Saturday, December 29, 2018

Twitter users posted 125 million hashtags during 2018, but what got users the most excited, enraged and impassioned? After the year’s intense rollercoaster of news, RT looks back at the most-tweeted stories.

#WorldCup / #FIFA2018

The World Cup dominated social media over the summer, as people shared their excitement and experiences from inside Russia’s stadiums and fan-zones, as well as their match reactions and opinions from the couch.

The World Cup was Twitter’s number one sports trend of the year, with the final between France and Croatia garnering the most tweets, and Kylian Mbappe’s goal for France inspiring the most tweets per minute.

#GreatMarchofReturn

Palestinians’ weekly protests at the Gaza border fence trended on social media from the very first Friday demonstration at the end of March, when participants were met with increasing violence. As the Palestinian death toll continued to rise, so too did global interest in the story.

Since March, over 200 Palestinians have died from Israeli Defense Force fire at protests. They included paramedics, journalists and children.

The protests began as a way of calling attention to the right of Palestinians to return to the lands they lost during the formation of Israel as a state, and coincided with the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Nine months on from the first march, Palestinians continue to protest their reality, although interest in their plight on social media has lessened.

#FreeAssange & #ReconnectJulian

When Julian Assange’s internet was unexpectedly suddenly cut off in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London last March, his supporters rallied to draw attention to the WikiLeaks founder’s isolation, and the threat of him being expelled from the diplomatic site where he has lived since seeking asylum in 2012.

Massive online vigils were held that saw supporters from around the world highlight Assange’s situation and the threat to press freedom caused by his isolation.

Internet access was partially restored in mid-October, but Assange’s supporters and colleagues remain concerned about his health and living conditions.

#NeverAgain

The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February sparked an outpouring of grief, anger and activism across social media, particularly on Twitter.

One of many school shootings in the US this year, the Parkland tragedy sparked a wave of back-and-forth tweets between gun-rights supporters and people pushing to restrict access to weapons. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting that killed 17 people, the hashtags #parkland, #stonemandouglas and others trended.

As the school’s surviving students quickly rallied into action, social media was awash with the hashtags #neveragain and #guncontrolnow, with #marchforourlives also gathering steam as the young activists held demonstrations to end gun violence.

Kavanaugh hearings

The #MeToo movement was born in 2017, but the hashtag continued to be used across Twitter throughout this year. When Brett Kavanaugh was being considered for a seat on the Supreme Court in July, the anger of sexual-assault victims and those who felt impacted by #MeToo reached a crescendo.

Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford decades ago when the pair were still in high school, a charge he denied. Kavanaugh's angry and tear-laden attendance at the hearings, paired with Ford’s composure during questioning, served for many as a fresh metaphor for the #MeToo movement, and sparked intense reactions on social media and from both sides of the political aisle.

#RoyalWedding

Whether you’re a keen royal watcher or an ardent republican, the wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was one of the biggest social media stories of the year – and entirely impossible to avoid on social media.

Twitter itself shared a livestream of the event on May 19 and reported that, by the following day, an incredible 6.6 million tweets about the marriage had been posted, with 5.2 million using the #RoyalWedding hashtag.

BTS

It’s impossible to do a list of trending Twitter topics without including k-pop boyband BTS. They not only had the most-liked tweet with their take on Drake’s video for ‘In My Feelings,’ but also proved to have the single most-popular account of the year.

From #FIFA2018 fever to #FreeAssange: The biggest hashtags of 2018

From #FIFA2018 fever to #FreeAssange: The biggest hashtags of 2018

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